Bundy Proposes Individual Treatment of Investigations

Attacks on individual members of a university by a "frightened" society must be judged according to the merits of the individual case, said McGeorge Bundy, associate professor of Government, at an Eliot House forum last night. He was one of five speakers on "The Idea of a University."

"It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil," Bundy said. Therefore "we should not be shocked or look surprised" when the universities are questioned in a time of trouble and fear.

Universities might be swept away if "the feeling that you do not care about truth, you want safety," becomes common enough, Bundy allowed, but he asserted his belief in the present strength of their position.

In answer to the question of whether or not the universities should stand behind faculty members who are attacked, Bundy stated that no universal rule could be set up to cover all cases, and that the validity or falsity of the attack complicates the moral problem.

"The best defense against these attacks is a constant concern with the excellence of the university," he said.

John H. Finley '25, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature and master of Eliot House, discussed the conflict between knowledge and morality in the idea of a university, and called for a total integration of the individual intelligence.

The Great Idea

The "power of the great idea" enables the university to affect both reason and morality, he said. Drawing an analogy between life and a tree, Finley spotted the vice of American society in its propensity to believe that one branch of the tree--such as reason or emotion--can exist independently of the rest.

Walter J. Bate '39, associate professor of English, attacked the "general compartmentalization" which has affected the universities, and urged that they try to enlarge the individual as an experiencing entity.

Willard V. Quine, professor of Philosophy, and University Professor I. A. Richards also discussed integration and departmentalization in the ideal university.